The morning answered
by ruin-me-dramione
Summary: Written on request. The Battle of Hogwarts is over and with the morning come rushing all hidden feelings and promises. Hermione seeks rest from the pain and horrors of war, and meets someone who is looking in the same direction. This is a tiny story I wrote for a tumblr friend. Oneshot.


Hermione always thought, that when the battle will be over – they would all be overjoyed and ecstatic.

But she was nothing, but numb.

Numb from the pain of multiple curses hitting her body. Numb from the screaming and ruckus of falling debris. Her three broken fingers didn't even hurt anymore, and she patiently awaited for Madam Pomfrey to mend them.

She was sitting on a low stool at the end of the Great Hall taking in their victory.

It was over.

Voldemort was dead.

His body will be burned.

The pain will be gone.

She looked around the hall. Groups of people were sitting everywhere, tightly together, like birds. Some were trying to eat or drink, some talked, some even laughed. There was a mixture of relief, excitement and grief on every other face, and it made Hermione's stomach do a flip.

"How will I hold Teddy?" Hermione heard from her left. She turned her head to look at Tonks, who was crying softly, yet trying to look stoic.

"I will hold him. And you" said Remus.

His wife smiled at him, blood dripping from a stub, that used to be her right arm. He was carefully hugging her, trying not to cause her any more pain. Hermione smiled at them – they both barely survived. Tonks lost her arm to a nasty curse and couldn't even get it mended so long after the battle. But they were alive.

Looking at the long line of injured students and Order members and disheveled and tired Madam Pomfrey, Hermione decided to take a walk. Her broken fingers will be still broken a few minutes later.

Walking down the Great Hall, she tried not to catch anyone's eye. Her bones ached and her mind was fuzzy, and she couldn't handle any interactions right now. Harry was still resting somewhere under his invisibility cloak, and the whole Weasley clan was huddled together, the twins cracking jokes, and Molly tutting at them, saying something about respect and honour. Safely reaching the foyer, Hermione walked into the courtyard and breathed in the morning air. It was heavy with smoke and the smell of blood. Not far from her feet Hermione spotted a dismembered arachnid, and suppressing nausea she quickly went into the side column gallery.

Almost all of it was broken down. Some columns were completely ruined, some half-broken. Hermione sighed, thinking about the amount of work the castle repairs will require. After half of the gallery's length was behind her, Hermione saw with relief, that the glass entrance to the greenhouse part of the corridor was intact, with only a few windows broken.

Walking into the glass gallery, filled with ivy and climbing roses, Hermione felt better. The air there was much less polluted, and even though it was heavy with herbal scents, it was still cool and calm there. In the early hours of morning, while the sun still hasn't heated the transparent conservatory, this was one of the most peaceful places in Hogwarts.

Hermione's tired eyes caught the sight of another person only after a few minutes. She stopped in her tracks and suddenly the roses started to smell much stronger.

He turned to face her, disturbed by the shuffling of her feet.

Their eyes met and neither of them spoke. They both were excruciatingly tired and restless at the same time. He had black circles under his eyes, and she had ash in her hair.

"Malfoy" she finally said.

"Hermione" he answered hoarsely, with a small incline of his head.

Se bit her lip and instinctively took a small step backwards. It still felt strange to hear him call her by her name, just like that. But she liked it.

"You lost your voice?" she inquired, looking at him and trying her hardest not to run away.

"Almost" he croaked with a smile. She could barely hear him. "What's wrong with your hand?"

Hermione looked at her disfigured palm, to which he was gesturing.

"Broke some fingers"

"Why didn't anyone heal you?"

His voice was so hoarse and weak, that she had to come much closer to him, than she would've in any other situation, to hear anything he was saying.

"Well, there are people with missing limbs and internal bleeding there. I think a few broken fingers can wait"

They both fell silent for a minute. He was looking out of the window, at the trampled pumpkin patches. She was trying to collect her bruised mind into one functional pile of cells. Suddenly, she looked up at him and said:

"I never got to thank you"

He didn't move, but she saw the memory emerge on his pale face. She didn't want to remember, but it was embedded on her brain forever now. When she closed her eyes, she still saw Draco running towards her, a viscous snarl on his face and wand at the ready. She was helping Lavender up from under a fallen roof beam, when she was grabbed from behind. Lavender started to scream, trying frantically to rush to Hermione's side, but she couldn't move the heavy wooden balk. Hermione already felt the smell of rotten meat near her neck and Grayback's sickening laugh, when she heard a bellowing voice.

"Don't you dare touch her!"

Draco hurled a curse at Grayback and the latter flew to the wall and slid down to the floor, bones cracking, blood everywhere.

She reached out with her uninjured hand and put in on his forearm. He gave a slight shiver, and she laughed quietly.

"Thank you, Draco"

The sun was rising, filling the conservatory with shimmering, yellow light. Somewhere on the grounds a bird started to sing, oblivious to the gloom of that moment. Her chirping might as well be a lament for the fallen and a hymn to the victors.

"Will you come back to do the year over?" he finally asked.

"Yes. I missed everything" she frowned "And so did you"

"Yeah" he tried to laugh, but started to cough violently "The Order was keen on keeping me under their surveillance"

"You know you couldn't just show up at school, you'd be killed on the spot!"

"Probably" his voice was filled with regret, even though he knew she was right. Hermione remembered an old muggle remedy her mom used to make her when she lost her voice as a child.

"Could you ever imagine that you'd be spying for the Order, fighting against everything you once though was right?"

He looked down at her – tiny, rumpled, with dirt and blood on her face. Her eyes were fixed on him, demanding an answer, yet calming him down with their dark brown glaze.

"Yes, actually" he smiled, sincere and exhausted "I imagined it every night for the last two years. Since the moment I declined my written destiny and decided to write it on my own."

"Was it… hard?"

"You've asked me that a dozen times before"

"I know I have, but it's different now. The deed is done. Voldemort is dead and the war is over"

He smirked his usual cocky grin, but it was bitter and Hermione instantly felt guilty.

"The war is far from being over"

"I really hoped nobody would say that" she whispered.

He sighed and turned to face her. She slightly turned as well, felling even smaller than usual.

"We have so much ahead of us. Not all of it will be good"

Her eyes widened. He saw her twitch a little, uneasy and blushing.

Throwing all caution to the wind, he took her shoulders and pressed her tiny, shivering form to his chest. He had to bend down a little to hug her properly, placing his face in the crook of her neck. She was warm, but couldn't stop shaking. Her hair smelled of cinder and blood. She tentatively put her left arm on his back, carefully, like if she was petting a cat that had a history of biting people. He wrapped himself even more around her, savoring the moment. He knew for a long time that this would happen eventually, but actually feeling her in his arms, hugging him, not running away and not trying to stand twenty feet away from him while talking.

"Finally" she said into his chest and he though he heard her sniffling.

"Indeed"

He wanted to squeeze her as hard as he could, but he was afraid to crack even more of her fragile bones.

"We should go back to the castle. Those broken fingers need to be mended"

He took her hand and started towards the door.

"Wait" she tugged his arm, refusing to move "I want to know, if..."

"Hermione" he went a step back and took her face in is palms "We'll come back here next year and finish school. We'll fix the castle." He saw her trying to speak again, so he took her chin, lifting her face gently to himself "And I'll hex anyone who dares ask you about us. We don't have to be scared anymore. Look yourself – you're not even running away from me. Not… denying your feelings. And mine."

She nodded, holding in tears.

He didn't want to go to the castle, where everybody would look at them and judge them, but he was worried for her. She was looking at him with such tenderness and fury at once, that he felt his lips twitch into a smile. Will they actually be together now? After months and months of making believe they felt nothing for each other?

Before leaving the now sunlit and hot greenhouse, he wanted one last piece of sweetness before their return to reality of questioning glances and appalled questions.

So he brushed her cheek and kissed her. Softly, warmly, passion concealed. She opened her lips and squeezed his hand. They got lost in each other on this simple, yet incredible moment – the one they anticipated, feared and desired. He knew he had to break off the kiss, when he felt her tongue graze his bottom lip. As if his heart wasn't booming through his ribcage before.

"Let's go. You need a healer"

She nodded and let him lead her to the courtyard.

"And I need a cold shower" he said quietly, almost to himself, but she heard anyway and giggled.

The day was bright and warm, polished sun smiling upon Hogwarts grounds. They went into the castle together, holding hands and awaiting a storm of disapproving gasps. But neither of them cared enough to be really worried. When you wait for something this long – it's worth every scandalous look.


End file.
